How many of you are still unable to access your e-mail, two days after the changeover from Verizon.  I have spent a total of 7 hours in queue and finally struggling with three separate technicians, none of whom could get my e-mail working.  Now they tell me they’ll “get back to me” within 48-hours of 7:00 last night (even though my first request for help went in at 11:00AM that morning.)  I was also told that the 150 messages that seem to be held in suspension may never be recovered!

What’s next with Fairpoint? They’ve already reneged on their promise to keep those accounting jobs in Vermont.  What will happen with their promise to provide DSL to rural communities?

( – promoted by odum)

We, the Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth continue to press our  Appeals against the St. Albans  Walmart project, despite the best efforts of the developer and Governor Douglas to put the fear of our neighbors into us at the recent Walmart rally.

If you got a glimpse of the Governor on WCAX news a couple of weeks ago, pumplng his fist in the air and telling opponents of the St. Albans Walmart project  to “stop the Appeals”, you may be wondering if the hot-dog hoovering crowd left the rally and followed up on JL Davis’s urging to “persuade” those of us involved to drop our opposition to the store.

The good news is that, so far, this attempt at organized intimidation doesn’t seem to have borne much fruit.  True, there were the ugly moments that Saturday afternoon,  when honking and shouting Walmart supporters noisily buzzed the Hudak Farm, waiving signs and carrying on like football hooligans; there was Paul Beaudry reliably spewing hate over the radio; and there has been a slight uptick in nasty letters-to-the editor.  But the simple fact is that many of our neighbors have gone out of their way to give us words of support and encouragement.

We do not, however, underestimate the potential for mischief yet to come; and we have already begun preparing a complaint to the ACLU, as we believe this sort of organized attempt to incite harassment, and so affect an ongoing judicial process, may constitute a violation of our civil rights.

We continue to call-out the Governor for his role in the spectacle.  It should be very concerning to all Vermonters that he apparently doesn’t understand his obligation as a member of the Executive Branch of State Government to not interfere  in matters that are currently under consideration by the Judiciary Branch.  Demonstrating his obvious bias in favor of significant contributors to his campaigns is inappropriate and downright foolish.  This just lends even more substance to our Conflict of Interest charge against one of the commissioners he has appointed to the District 6 Environmental Commission that issued Walmart its ACT 250 permit.